With my equipment, I can not give you a reliable measurement for this low currents.
But you’re right. Many people have this model. Can some owners give us their measurements…
I was pleasantly surprised to find out a lot of cheap basic DMM actually do have the ability to measure microA. More expensive DMM have like a 4000 or 6000 count ability. I personally think it’s worth getting a cheap DMM with this feature; it’s great being able to measure parasitic drain, especially after having experienced this phenomenon in an unpleasant way. Not to mention that if there is scatter, you will know for sure whether your specific light suffers too much from it.
Hey Trevi_lux,
Thanks for doing the testing. Yes, I do use the electronic lock out on the Mi7. I haven’t needed to lock out the Manker as the button is recessed enough so that when it’s clipped into my pocket, it has never accidentally turned on.
BTW, I also have a Klarus AR-10 and Olight SR10 II. I use electronic lockout on both of them and have not had issues with parasitic drain. AR-10 had been in my backpack for several months and still has good battery life. The SR10 II’s been on e-lock for at least a month and still reading 4.04v in my charger (sorry, no DMM at work).
Thanks! Just wondering if it is plausible that you’re going to get a much different value when testing with NiMH. Obviously you will because the voltage is different, but perhaps the efficiency may be of a completely different order. With 14500 it’s 777 microW (=185 x 4.2), but is this the same with NiMH? Would you be so kind to test it with NiMH as well? Thanks!
Although your conclusion that you have a lemon is unfortunately correct, you used wrong parameters. Capacity for NiMH should be 2000 or 2500 mAh; you used a value for AAA instead of AA.
I guess it depends on your perspective. For my purposes as an EDC light, 6 months of stand by is more than sufficient, since I use it daily and will run down the battery long before 6 months elapses.
If, on the other hand, I was putting it in a survival kit, I could see that being an issue, but then again, if it was in a survival kit, I would engage physical lock out. Furthermore, I usually check my gear more frequently than once every 6 months.
I wonder if the drain is constant regardless of voltage? The numbers seem quite close. I seem to recall there were devices that drew constant current and adjusting input voltage changed power consumption on a linear scale.
Mine has horrible parasitic drain, but it’s not typical. I got a dud. If you look at the table I created, based on the data maukka provided on his light, using AA NiHM, the parasitic drain would take 20+ months to deplete the cell.